[An Nahar] Four people, including three coppers, were maimed when a grenade was hurled at a police vehicle Monday in the northeast Kenyan town of Garissa, close to the Somali border, a police source said.

"A total of four people have been injured. Three are administration police," a Kenyan paramilitary police unit, a police officer in Garissa told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity.

"A grenade was hurled on their vehicle" while the officers were on patrol, he added.

"We're gathering information on what happened in the incident," he said.

The attack comes after five police were killed in Garissa in November: two officers shot down while on patrol and three others killed by gunshots a few days later while changing a flat tire on their vehicle.

Kenya has been hit by a wave of grenade and gun attacks, often blamed on sympathizers of Somalia's Shabaab Islamist fighters and sometimes aimed at police targets, since its army went into Somalia last year to flush out the Shabaab.

A Tunisian court has ordered the release of Ali Hamzi, a man suspected of involvement in the deadly attack on the US consulate in Libya last September, according to his lawyer Abdelbasset Ben Mbarek.

The ruling came after Hamzi was interrogated by four FBI agents and a translator in Tunisia last month, without the presence of a defense lawyer.

According to Sharia law, a kaffir may not sit in judgement over a Muslim.

Mbarek called the methods used during the interrogation of his client "scandalous." He said, "He has returned to his family. If he had been implicated in the attack, he would not have been released," adding that his client remained under judicial control because he was still charged with belonging to a terrorist group.

Hamzi was detained while trying to enter Turkey after the attack on the US mission in Benghazi. He was deported back to Tunisia in October, where he was charged with belonging to "a terrorist group based abroad."

He had refused to be interrogated by FBI agents. Tunisia's justice ministry has defended its right to full cooperation with the United States in combatting terrorism.

[An Nahar] The Egyptian army foiled a bid early Monday to attack a Coptic church in the Rafah border town with Gazoo as the minority Christian community began celebrating its Christmas, MENA news agency reported.

"Army units foiled an attack against the Rafah church at 1:00 am (23:00 GMT Sunday) and seized an exploding car and weapons near the church," the official news agency said.

Egypt's Coptic minority celebrates Monday its first Christmas under Islamist rule and amid a climate of fear and uncertainty for their future, although President Mohammed Morsi has pledged to be the "president of all Egyptians."

In September, residents and officials reported that several Coptic families from Rafah had fled from the Sinai peninsula town that borders the Gazoo Strip after receiving death threats from Islamists.

Morsi, who hails from the powerful Moslem Brüderbund, visited the Sinai peninsula the following month to meet with and reassure Coptic families, telling them that "your security is our security".

[MAGHAREBIA] Some 84 fighters from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) fled Mali for the Mauritanian town of Bassiknou, ANI reported on Sunday (December 6th)[sic]. After turning over 25 all-terrain vehicles, weapons and ammunition to Mauritanian military forces, the Touareg separatists were allowed to join other Malian refugees at the M'berra camp.

[An Nahar] Libyan Islamist leader Ahmed Abu Khattala said on Monday that a man was killed and another injured when planting a boom-mobile in a bid to assassinate him.

"One person was killed and another was maimed as they were planting a bomb in my brother's car with the aim of assassinating me," he said of the Sunday night incident.

A security official in Libya's second city Benghazi confirmed saying that "two people were involved in an liquidation attempt against Ahmed Abu Khattala. One was killed and the other maimed."

He added that the men were trying to set a bomb in a car but the device went kaboom! in the process, instantly killing one of the assailants.

The blast destroyed two vehicles, a white pick up truck in which the perpetrators reportedly arrived and a black jeep, an Agence La Belle France Presse photographer said.

Abu Khattala is one of the accused in the case of General Abdel Fatah Younes, who was killed in July 2011 along with two companions in murky circumstances. Their bodies were found in the outskirts of Benghazi.

U.S. media reports have also implicated him in the deadly September 11, 2012 assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.

But, in an October interview with AFP, the Islamist leader denied any role in the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Russian security forces in a restive North Caucasus province on Sunday killed three militants suspected of planning attacks on church services during the Russian Orthodox Christmas holiday, authorities said.

Security forces tried to stop a van in the Kabardino-Balkaria province on Sunday but its occupants opened fire and were killed in the ensuing battle, during which the vehicle caught fire, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said in a statement.

It said that explosives, guns and ammunition were found in the van and that the men who were killed had been planning attacks on churches during services marking Russian Orthodox Christmas, which is on Monday...

Deadly exchanges of gunfire between police and suspected militants at road checkpoints are common in Russia's North Caucasus, a string of provinces hit by an Islamist insurgency rooted in two separatist wars in Chechnya.

Kabardino-Balkaria, west of Chechnya, is mostly Muslim but has a sizable Christian minority.

[Dawn] A Pak man accused of taking part in an international al Qaeda plot to attack targets in the United States and Europe pleaded not guilty"Wudn't me." to terrorism charges during his first US court appearance Monday in New York.

Abid Naseer, 26, was extradited on Thursday from Britannia to Brooklyn, New York. He is facing up to life in prison on charges including providing material support to al Qaeda and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction in connection with an alleged plot to bomb a city center in Manchester, England.

The charges against Naseer are also connected to an alleged al Qaeda plot in 2009 to bomb the subway system in New York City, US prosecutors said. Two men, Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay, have pleaded guilty to planning the attacks and a third man, Adis Medunjanin, was sentenced to life in prison after his conviction last year for taking part in the plot.

During a brief court appearance in Brooklyn federal court, Naseer, wearing a bright blue t-shirt and black sneakers, pleaded not guilty to the charges through his court-appointed lawyer. The judge ordered Naseer to be held in detention without bail. His next court appearance is scheduled for March 7.

Naseer is one of a dozen men, mostly students from Pakistain, who were enjuggedYez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! in Britannia in 2009 on suspicion of plotting to bomb a city center in Manchester. British authorities conducted daylight raids on the suspects' homes after Britannia's most senior counter-terrorism official was photographed openly carrying details about the operation.

British authorities said they found large quantities of flour and oil in the suspects' homes, as well as highlighted surveillance photographs of public areas in Manchester and a map of the city center.

Naseer and the other suspects were never charged, but British and US authorities said Naseer was part of a broader al Qaeda cell bent on staging attacks in the United States and Scandinavia.

Naseer was indicted in Brooklyn federal court in 2010, along with Medunjanin and other individuals alleged to be linked through a multi-national al Qaeda conspiracy.

US prosecutors said Naseer and Zazi coordinated their plans through emails to the same Pakistain-based al Qaeda controller, "Ahmad," using similar code words to discuss explosives and the timing of their respective plots.

Naseer was re-arrested by British authorities in 2010 after a US warrant was issued. He fought extradition, saying he feared he could be sent from the US to Pakistain and subjected there to torture. Naseer's appeal was rejected last month by the European Court of Human Rights, paving the way for him to stand trial in the United States.

India accused Pakistan of a "grave provocation" on Tuesday night after the "ghastly" death of two of its soldiers at the hands of Pakistani troops in Kashmir, amid claims that one of them was beheaded.

In the second clash in three days between soldiers from the nuclear-armed rivals, an Indian patrol found Pakistani troops about half a mile inside Indian territory, an army spokesman said.

A firefight broke out and two Indian soldiers were killed. Indian army sources claimed that one of the soldiers was decapitated and his head taken away by retreating Pakistani troops. His body was found "badly mutilated" in a forested area of the Himalayan territory, said Rajesh K. Kalia, a spokesman for the Indian army's Northern Command.

A spokesman for the Pakistan army denied that its forces launched an "unprovoked" attack and dismissed the claims as Indian propaganda.

Salman Khurshid, India's minister for external affairs, described the incident as "unacceptable, ghastly" and "short-sighted" on the part of Pakistan. He said any response would be "proportionate".

India's ministry of defence issued a statement denouncing the incident as a "provocative act" and said the government would take it up with Pakistan.

[Dawn] An engineer was killed while three other people including a police official sustained injuries in a blast at Quetta's Sariab Road on Monday evening.

According to police, the dear departed had been identified as Nazir Ahmed Qambarani, Sub Engineer of Balochistan...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... Development Authority (BDA) and injured as Abdul Salam Bangulzai, Sajjad Ahmed Raisani and Assistant Sub Inspector of Police Aftab Ahmed Parkani.

The injured were rushed to hospital where their condition is stable.

Bomb disposal squad and law enforcement officials reach the site and cordoned off the area.

Meanwhile,...back at the wrecked scow, Harrigan had lost the feeling in his legs from the cold. I told 'em they'd never take me alive, he thought. I was right!... three more people were killed and another three were maimed in different incidents of firing in various parts of the Balochistan capital.

[Dawn] Five persons, including a woman and a minor boy, were killed when unidentified gunnies opened firing on a taxicab in Jamrud area of Khyber Agency on Sunday.

The driver of the vehicle was injured in the attack, official sources said. Tribal elder Malik Sher Mir Sikandarkhel and his son Shan Mohammad were among the dead, they added. They said that the taxicab was ambushed at Shangirh area near Gudar village when it was on its way to bazaar.

Officials said that other victims of the firing incident were identified as wife of Misal Shah, a minor boy Bilal and another passenger Rehmanullah.

Officials said that the tribal elder and his son were killed on the spot while the rest of victims gave up the ghost in a hospital. The driver of the car identified as Abdul Hashim was injured critically in the attack. Reason behind the incident could not be known.

[Dawn] A cousin of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain's chief Hakimullah Mehsud was among nine suspected gunnies killed when US drones attacked compounds in the Bobar area of South Wazoo on Sunday.

According to sources, the drones fired 10 missiles, destroying three compounds in the area close to the Frontier Regions of Tank and Lakki Marwat.

One of the destroyed compounds belonged to Punjabi Taliban leader Qari Imran... the Qari Imran training camp is located in South Wazoo. It is named after its commander, Qari Imran alias Hakeem Nasir of the Mehsud group. Dawn describes Qari as an al-Qaeda controller, and the camp specializes in turning out boomers. 10 to 15 bad boyz were dronezapped at the camp on September 11th, 2008...They said the dead included Wali Mohammad Toofan, a cousin of and close aide to Hakimullah Mehsud. Toofan had been recently elevated to head TTP's 'Fidai wing' after its leader Qari Hussain died in a drone strike in Mirali, North Waziristan.

Another victim of Sunday's drone strike was identified as Sailab.

Most of those killed belonged to the Mehsud tribe.

Meanwhile,...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again... security forces resorted to intense mortar shelling on suspected hard boy positions in Sheen Nari, near Bobar.
Helicopter gunships also shelled the locality between 9am and 3pm, the sources said.

AFP adds: A security official in Miranshah... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas..., the main town in North Waziristan, said "at least 12 gunnies have been killed and several others were maimed" in the attack that took place near the Afghan border.

Local people said that gunnies had cordoned off the area and were looking for bodies or the injured in the debris.US drone strikes had last week killed Mullah Nazir, the main hard boy 'commander' in South Waziristan.

[Dawn] Two young men were found rubbed out in Shah Faisal Colony and Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot....on Sunday, police said.

They said that the perforated carcass of the young man was found near Moti Masjid in Shah Faisal Colony No 3.

The police shifted the body to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities. The victim was identified as Muneeb Ahmad, 26.

He was a resident of Shah Faisal Colony. The motive for the killing was not immediately clear.

Another unidentified young man was found rubbed out in Lyari. Police said that the victim was blindfolded and trussed-up. He had been shot in the head, they said.

The body was shifted to the Civil Hospital for medico-legal formalities. Later, the body was moved to the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth for want of identification.

[Dawn] At least four Islamic fascistiwere killed and four others maimed Tuesday when a US drone fired missiles at a bully boy compound in North Wazoo, security officials said.

The missiles struck a bully boy compound in Haider Khel village, some 25 kilometres (15 miles) east of Miranshah... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas..., the main town in the North Waziristan tribal district, a stronghold of Taliban and al Qaeda-linked bully boys.

"US drones fired four missiles at a bully boy compound. At least four Islamic fascistihave been killed," a security official in Miranshah told AFP.

Another security official in the northwestern city of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. confirmed the attack and casualties. Both officials said the identity of those killed was not yet known.

The covert US drone strikes are publicly criticised by the Pak government as a violation of illusory sovereignty but American officials believe they are a vital weapon in the war against Islamist bully boys.

Legal lobby group Reprieve estimates that up to nearly 900 civilians were among the 2,621 to 3,442 people killed by drones in Pakistain since 2004.

Police in Kidapawan City believe the improvised bomb found and detonated inside the police headquarters here on Sunday was part of the plan to rescue high profile inmates at the Cotabato City jail.

Kidapawan City police director Joseph Samillano refused to identify which inmates would be the object of a possible jailbreak.

A powerful IED of two 60 mm mortars were found at the cyclone wire fence of the city police compound.

While there are other possible motives, Samillano said the jailbreak theory was the most likely. He said the city jail was a subject of daring rescue attempt by followers of inmate Commander Lastikman, a former Moro rebel who turned to kidnapping, bombing and highway robbery.

Palestinian factions in Syria called for a cease-fire Tuesday after fighting flared at a refugee camp in the capital, Damascus, highlighting a split among Palestinians as the civil war intensifies.

The Yarmouk camp has been the scene of heavy clashes in the past, but the battles subsided last month after Syrian rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, battled loyalists there to a standstill.

In Tuesday's fighting, five people were killed on Yarmouk Street, four of them when a shell exploded and the fifth in sniper fire, according to The Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights that relies on reports from activists on the ground.

The group said intense clashes were taking place on the edges of the camp, where the Syrian troops are positioned, and the nearby Hajar Aswad district.

In a statement, representatives of 14 Damascus-based Palestinian factions called for a cease-fire and a halt to all military operations to enable medical teams and food supply trucks to enter the camp. They urged gunmen to withdraw from the camp "in order not to bear the responsibility of the continuing displacement of (Yarmouk's) residents."

Just more of the same gimme gimme mentality that you see from leftists and thugs everywhere. The Arab states should tell them to get off their lazy asses and build some businesses to support themselves!!

[An Nahar] Syria's state media said Monday that government troops repulsed a rebel attack on a police school in the northern city of Aleppo, one day after Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-AssadTerror of Aleppo ... called on Syrians to fight an opposition driven by what he characterized as religious thugs.

The official SANA news agency said regime forces killed and maimed members of a "terrorist group" in the fighting late Sunday, but did not provide a number. The government and the pro-regime media refer to the rebels seeking to topple Assad as terrorists.

Aleppo, Syria's largest city and a former commercial hub, has been a major front in the civil war since July, with battles often raging for control of military and security facilities such as the police school. Rebels have recently made gains around Aleppo, as well as in the east and in the capital Damascus...The capital of Iran's Syrian satrapy..., bringing the civil war closer to the seat of Assad's power.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels clashed with troops in the suburbs of Damascus, including in Daraya south of the capital. The Observatory said the army sent reinforcements there to join in an offensive aimed at dislodging rebels from the district, located just a few kilometers (miles) from a strategic military air base west of the capital.

The towns and cities around Damascus have seen relentless fighting in recent weeks as rebels try to push through the government's heavy defenses in the capital. The regime has responded with withering counterattacks that include barrages by artillery and warplanes. The Observatory also reported festivities in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, in the central region of Homs and in the southern province of Daraa, the birthplace of the uprising in March 2011.

Five people, including four members of the same family, were killed in shelling on the eastern Damascus suburb of Kfar Batna, the Observatory said.

In the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, one soldier who had defected was killed in fighting near a local political security branch office.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.